Ogre Buyer's Guide - January 2024

[HeatDeath]

A lot of people have asked, over the course of the Backerkit campaign, what are the entry points into Ogre? What’s available? What should I buy as a starter? What should I buy for a complete experience?

To my mind, there are four main lines of Ogre product. Each contains 3-5 main products. I have bolded the one product on each line that would serve best as a self-contained introduction to the game of Ogre. If you can get a hold of everything in a given product line, you will have a reasonably complete experience - everything you need to enjoy that aspect of the game for years to come.

O6e-scale

• Ogre 6e
• Battlefields
• Reinforcements

Micro-scale

• Ogre Pocketbox
• GEV Pocketbox
• Shockwave baggie
• Reinforcements baggie
• Battlefields baggie

Miniatures

• Ogre Miniatures 2e
• Minis Set 1
• Minis Set 2
• Minis Set 3
• Minis Set 4

Supplemental Material

• The Ogre Book
• Ogrezine I+II
• Scenario Books 1-3
• GURPS Classic: Ogre

These four product lines are not completely independent of each other:

• The Supplemental material is applicable to any of the other three lines.
• The Miniatures can be a game in and of themselves, but are also perfectly usable as playing pieces with the rules and maps in the O6e-scale products. [Indeed, this is how most people use them.]
• See post #6 below...

The Supplemental Material line is just that: scenarios, lore, fiction, optional rules, variants, designers notes, and other articles that will increase your enjoyment of the game no matter which of the other three product lines interest you. The Ogre Book contains material dating from the game’s 1977 release through 2000. If you only get one, get that, but if you want more, Ogrezine I+II is more recent material, dating from 2012 to its publication date in 2019. GURPS Classic: Ogre is a GURPS splatbook containing GURPS 3e character templates, GURPS Vehicles (3e) descriptions, and vast amounts of lore, allowing you to roleplay in the Ogre universe. It does not contain any Ogre-game material per se, but is the source of the majority of the extant lore of the Ogre universe.

The Miniatures product line is the simplest to describe and get into. Miniatures-style gaming involves maneuvering your units on an open landscape model using terrain objects that you build yourself. There is no hex grid. Movement and weapons ranges are determined using a ruler. Those who love this style of play, love it a lot. Ogre Miniatures Set 1 includes a one-sheet rule set called “Ogre Miniatures Lite” (also downloadable for free) that makes it a perfectly playable miniatures game in and of itself. More detailed rules, lore, painting tips, and more are found in the Ogre Miniatures 2e book.

• Ogre Miniatures Set 1 includes the core units necessary to play the core game of Ogre - PanEuropean conventional armor and infantry, and two North American Combine Ogres, the Mark III and Mark V. These also happen to be the units included in the Ogre 6e board game, making this miniature set an excellent component upgrade for that product.
  
• Ogre Miniatures Set 2 is a set of more specialized PanEuropean conventional units - those introduced in the original GEV boardgame. It also includes the Combine Ogre variant introduced in GEV: the Mark IV, and a PanEuropean Ogre called the Fencer.
  
• Ogre Miniatures Set 3 is just two Ogres, the two largest in the game: The Combine Mark VI, and the PanEuropean Doppelsoldner. These are basically upgunned versions of the Mark V and Fencer, respectively.
  
• Ogre Miniatures Set 4 is the set whose Backerkit campaign is just finishing at the time of this writing. It is a larger set, equivalent in size to sets 1 and 2 put together. It contains the North American Combine conventional units, as well as 4 smaller Ogres that were used by both sides: the Mark I and Mark II (two of each).

The Micro-scale product line is how Ogre was originally released. Its counters and maps are much smaller than those of the main O6e-scale line. The maps are too small to comfortably support using the miniatures as tokens. It has the advantage of being very portable. It is an excellent travel game, and is a much more compact (and inexpensive) way to play genuinely large scenarios.

O6e-scale is the primary Ogre product line. Large, mounted color maps and/or playmats, large chipboard 2D counters for the conventional units, and large colored slot-together chipboard models for the Ogres and buildings. [It's worth noting that this is the scale and art-style pioneered in Ogre Designer's Edition, and that the maps and counters in Ogre Designer's Edition are identical to the counters and maps in the O6e-scale product line.]

The O6e-scale product line is centered around the Ogre 6e box set. If you buy nothing else, buying this box set gets you the complete classic game of Ogre. It is played on a relatively simple, orange map, representing a blasted nuclear wasteland, and depicts PanEuropean conventional units defending their command post from a North American Combine Ogre.

The complete O6e-scale product line requires the purchase of two other products: Ogre Battlefields, and Ogre Reinforcements. Between the two of them, they give you the additional units and more detailed terrain rules that were originally introduced in GEV. They are split up in an interesting way. Ogre Battlefields gives you the complete terrain rules and a selection of four maps with the new, much more varied terrain. [It also includes the most recent, complete, and up-to-date rulebook for the entire Ogre game.] Ogre Reinforcements gives you the additional units and their rules, including counters for the new units to augment the PanEuropean force Ogre 6e came with, as well as a complete Combine army equivalent to what you now have for PanEurope. There is a difficulty though: Reinforcements is out of print and somewhat difficult to find. Without it, you will lack Combine chipboard counters to balance the Paneuropean forces in the Ogre 6e box. I will discuss a solution for this below. [See "Filling the Reinforcements Hole".]

Where to purchase:

O6e-scale:

• Ogre 6e: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...-sixth-edition
• Battlefields: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...battlefields-2
• Reinforcements: Sold out at Warehouse 23 and difficult to find: see below.

Micro-scale:

• Ogre Pocketbox: Sold out at Warehouse 23 but reasonably easy to find elsewhere.
• GEV Pocketbox: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...e-v-pocket-box
• Shockwave baggie: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...gged-expansion
• Reinforcements baggie: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...nt-pack-bagged
• Battlefields baggie: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...battlefields-1
  Warehouse 23 has only the PDF. You will want physical copies of the maps, so either print and play this PDF or try to find a physical copy online.
  SJGames announced a upcoming pocketbox version of this a few years ago, which may or may not be forthcoming - it is not on the 2024 release schedule.

Miniatures:

• Ogre Miniatures Set 1: Sold out at Warehouse 23. May be difficult to find online.
  Included in the Ogre Miniatures “Battle Box” product, which may be easier to find.
• The Ogres from this set are available together here: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...ck-ogre-bundle
  Or a la carte:
  Here: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...mk-dot-3-ogres
  And here: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...mk-dot-5-ogres
• Ogre Miniatures Lite: Free PDF download here: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...iniatures-lite
• Ogre Miniatures 2e: Rulebook. Available as PDF here: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...iniatures-2018
  Hard copy may be difficult to find but is not strictly necessary.
• Ogre Miniatures Set 2: Sold out at Warehouse 23. May be difficult to find online.
  Included in the Ogre Miniatures “Battle Box” product, which may be easier to find.
• Ogre Miniatures Set 3: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...-doppelsoldner
• Ogre Miniatures Set 4: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects...s/ogre-minis-4
  Backerkit campaign closes in 40 hours as of this writing.
  It should be possible to preorder through the pledge manager.
  Sets will be available on Warehouse 23 after fulfillment.

Supplemental Material:
PDFs will suffice for these, though physical copies are available via Print-on-Demand from Amazon. Amazon links can be found on the respective W23 pages.

• The Ogre Book: https://warehouse23.com/products/the-ogre-book
• Ogrezine I: https://warehouse23.com/products/ogrezine
• Ogrezine II: https://warehouse23.com/products/ogrezine-ii
  Ogrezine I and II are combined in an omnibus physical volume on Amazon
• Scenario Book 1: https://warehouse23.com/products/ogr...revised-format
• Scenario Boko 2: https://warehouse23.com/products/ogre-scenario-book-2
• Scenario Book 3: https://warehouse23.com/products/ogre-scenario-book-3
  Scenario Books 1-3 are combined in an omnibus physical volume on Amazon
  Scenario Book 1 is an older product. The revised version has been reformatted to be consistent with the rest of the O6e-scale product line.
• GURPS Classic: Ogre: https://warehouse23.com/products/gurps-classic-ogre

[CON_Troll]

Probably the most comprehensive overview of OGRE I've ever seen.

Well done.

[HeatDeath]

Filling the Reinforcements Hole…

One of the three major products of the O6e-scale product line, Reinforcements, is out of print, sold out, and difficult to find. This presents a difficulty for any player trying to get into that aspect of Ogre. If you purchase Ogre 6e you will have a PanEuropean conventional force (what I’m referring to as the “Core” units: GEV, Howitzer, Heavy Tank, Missile Tank, and Infantry) and two North American Combine Ogres. If you then purchase Battlefields, you will have a wide variety of maps with a wide variety of terrain to use them on. But you will be lacking significant pieces of the experience: PanEuropean “GEV” units (see below) and a Combine armor and infantry force to fight conventional (and Ogre-assisted) battles against your PanEuropean force.

Fortunately, most of the contents of Reinforcements are available in alternate forms, many of them for free or at low cost.

Reinforcements consists of the following components:

• Rules for the “GEV” units: Light Tank, Light GEV, Mobile Howitzer, Superheavy Tank, GEV Personnel Carrier
• Rules for the “Town” terrain type
• Eight scenarios: Gauntlet, Dogpile, Mini Breakthrough, Ogrelympics, Mini Ceasefire Collapse, Black Knight, Kill the Ogre, and Spoiling Attack
• Counters expanding the “Core” PanEuropean force in Ogre 6e with “GEV” units
• Counters for a Combine army equivalent to the expanded PanEuropean force

The rules for the GEV units are all contained in the Battlefields rulebook, as are the rules for the Town terrain type. This rulebook can be downloaded for free here: https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/resourc...elds_Rules.pdf

Five of the eight scenarios can all be found in the Ogre section of the sjgames.com website, for free. It takes a little digging, so here are the direct links:

• Gauntlet: https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/scenarios/gauntlet.html
• Dogpile: https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/scenarios/dogpile.html
• Mini Breakthrough: https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/scenari...akthrough.html
• Ogrelympics: https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/scenarios/ogrelympics.html
• Mini Ceasefire Collapse: https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/scenari...-collapse.html

The remaining three scenarios: Black Knight, Kill the Ogre, and Spoiling Attack, can be found in Scenario Book 1, available as a PDF on warehouse23.com, or PoD on Amazon. https://warehouse23.com/collections/...revised-format

There are two main options for obtaining the PanEuropean conventional GEV units and Combine conventional units (both GEV and Core). Both of them have the disadvantage that they will look noticeably different than the chipboard force of Core PanEuropean units and Combine Ogres that came in Ogre 6e. But they’re significantly better than nothing.

The first would be to obtain a copy of Ogre Miniatures Set 2, which contains the GEV units for PanEurope. This might be tricky because, as I mentioned above, Miniatures Set 2 is unfortunately also sold out at Warehouse23 and difficult to find online. It is contained as part of the "Battle Box" and "Many Minis" products, which may be easier to source.

The Combine conventional units, of course, are the subject of the current BackerKit campaign. Even one Ogre Miniatures Set 4 will give you a perfectly reasonable supply of Combine conventional armor and infantry, both the Core units and the GEV units. This will remain the best and easiest way to obtain Combine conventional units for the foreseeable future. As I noted above, this set should remain in stock on Warehouse23 after the campaign fulfillment for some time, though of course your best bet would be to order now via BackerKit or the upcoming pledge manager. https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects...s/ogre-minis-4

The other option for obtaining tokens for use with O6e-scale maps is the Classic Counters Pack. This is a free set of Print and Play playing pieces styled after the original Micro-scale tokens, but doubled in size to match the size of the hexes on the O6E-scale map boards. The Combine pieces are white text on black and the PanEuropean forces are black text on white, with icons representing the different unit types. All unit types in the game, Core and GEV, are included for both Combine and PanEurope, and you can print as many copies as you need for any scenario you wish. The Classic Counters Pack can be downloaded for free here: https://warehouse23.com/collections/...sic-counters-1

[It is worth noting at this point that by downloading the Battlefields rulebook and Classic Counters Pack mentioned above, and downloading a copy of the Ogre map found on the Ogre Resources page, you can Print and Play yourself a completely functional and official Ogre set using legitimate, free, and legal downloads. https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/resources/img/OGRE_Map.pdf ]

[HeatDeath]

More downloadable information for Ogre, including map PDFs, rulebooks PDFs, and articles can be found here: https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/resources/

More scenarios can be found here: https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/scenarios/

More information about Ogre miniatures products, including vintage and out of print products and collector’s information can be found here: https://www.sjgames.com/miniatures/

[HeatDeath]

I have just been informed of another way to obtain O6e-scale Combine units in reasonable quantities at a very resonable price.

During the Ogre Designer's Edition Kickstarter Campaign, backers who pledged at a certain (high) level were granted a license to work with Steve Jackson Games to produce custom personalized countersheets, which they would then sell independently. One of these backers was Roy Kubicek, who commissioned a sheet of counters of units representing the in-universe Nihon Empire. These units share the line art of the North American Combine units, differing only in their paint job, and include both the Core units and GEV units, as defined above.

A significant quantity of these sheets is currently for sale on eBay. Two copies of this sheet will provide you with a Combine-styled army that will complement the Core PanEuropean units included in Ogre 6e very well. These sheets can be purchased here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285532599297

Supplies may be limited and neither I nor Steve Jackson Games make any representation as to the veracity or legitimacy of the eBay listing.

More information about the other custom countersheets from the Ogre Designer's Edition Kickstarter campaign can be found here:
https://www.sjgames.com/ogre/sponsored-counters/

Two of them are still available for sale on Warehosue23:
https://warehouse23.com/collections/...uncommon-ogres
https://warehouse23.com/collections/...ogre-nightfall

[HeatDeath]

Originally Posted by HeatDeath

These four product lines are not completely independent of each other:

• The Supplemental material is applicable to any of the other three lines.
• The Miniatures can be a game in and of themselves, but are also perfectly usable as playing pieces with the rules and maps in the O6e-scale products. [Indeed, this is how most people use them.]

• Conversely, the O6e-scale product line's 3-D slot-together chipboard Ogre and building models are approximately the same scale as the miniatures. The Ogre Miniatures 2e book specifically recommends using them as necessary to proxy for units that do not have a plastic or metal miniature, and indeed includes a chipboard counter sheet of slot-together 3-D Ogre models - a Mark VI, a Doppelsoldner, and a Vulcan.

[HeatDeath]

3-D Chipboard Ogres by Main Product

Ogre 6e

• Mark V - Combine
• Mark III - Combine (x2)

Reinforcements

• Mark V - PanEurope
• Mark III - PanEurope (x2)

Ogre Miniatures 2e

• Ogre Mark VI - Combine, same colors as O6e
• Doppelsoldner - Vatican Guard
• Vulcan - Unaffiliated; gray with yellow

Battlefields

• Fencer-B - PE
• Vulcan - Combine
• Ninja - Combine (x2)
• Mark III - Tiger Stripes ("'Sons of Old Nassau" mercenary company)
• Mark V - Tiger Stripes ("'Sons of Old Nassau" mercenary company)
• Mark IV - Pink ("Anarchist Relief Front" rebel faction)
• Mark III - Destroyed hulk
• Mark I - Various (x4) 2D, double sided, different paint jobs

So, sticking with the identified main products, you can obtain every Ogre except a Mark II, Mark III-B, and Fencer-A.

The Nightfall sponsored counter sheet also contains a Mark IV, in black.
https://warehouse23.com/collections/...ogre-nightfall

The Mark II, Mark III-B and Fencer-A came in ODE, and are currently unavailable. That being said, the Fencer-A is basically the same as the Fencer-B, differing only in some details on the turret. One can easily proxy for the other.

The 3D chipboard Mark II and Mark III-B have not been available since ODE.

[There are also some small, 2-D Ogre counters, including a Mk III-B, on the Nihon Empire counter sheet from the eBay listing.]

[HeatDeath]

Record Sheet Cards by Product

Starting with the November 2017 release of Reinforcements, SJG began including Ogre Record Sheet cards with products that included 3-D chipboard or plastic Ogre miniatures. These cards were standard playing deck size, and laminated so that they could be used with dry-erase markers and easily wiped clean for repeated use. With the exception of the cards in Reinforcements, which just had the O G R E logo on the back, these cards were all double sided, with standard Ogre boardgame units (hex-count distances and AU (armor unit) equivalents) on one side, and Ogre Miniatures units (inches and Victory Point equivalents) on the other.

Here is a list of the products which included cards, and which cards came with each product, divided by the color of the Ogre depicted:

Reinforcements: 3 cards [Not listed on the package]
Blue:

• MkIII (x2)
• MkV

Minis Set 1: 2 cards
Standard | Reversed Color | Hunter Green | GITD

• MkIII
• MkV

[There are three distinct card sets for Minis Set 1.
The "Standard" set (red Ogres, blue PE conventional units) included cards with a red MkIII and a red MkV.
The "Reversed Color" set (blue Ogres, red PE conventional units) and the "Hunter Green" set used the same cards: a blue MkIII and a green MkV.
The cards from the GITD (Glow in the Dark) set have a dark green background, and look strikingly different from the rest.]


Ogre Miniatures 2e: 26 cards [Warehouse23 says 24 but is not counting the Superheavy, as it is not technically an Ogre.]
Blue:

• PE Superheavy (x2)
• Fencer (x2)
• Fencer-B (x2)
• Doppelsoldner (x2)

Red:

• MkI (x2)
• MkII (x2)
• MkIII (x2)
• MkIII-B (x2)
• Vulcan (x2)
• MkIV (x2)
• MkV (x2)
• MkVI (x2)

Black:

• Ninja (x2)

Battle Box: 5 cards
Gray:

• MkIII
• MkIV
• MkV
• Fencer
• Fencer-B

Many Minis: 15 cards
Gray:

• MkIII (x3)
  
• MkIV (x3)
  
• MkV (x3)
  
• Fencer (x3)
  
• Fencer-B (x3)

[Note that Many Minis contains these cards in addition to the Battle Box with it's cards listed above.]


Battlefields: 14 cards [In a ziploc bag]
Blue:

• Pikeman* (x2)
• Fencer-B

Red:

• MkV
• Vulcan
• MkI (x4)
• MkIV
• MkIII-B
• MkIII

Black /w White Lines

• Ninja (x2)

As of this writing, The Ogre Miniatures 2e book is the best source for a complete set of cards. Even in PDF, the Ogre Miniatures 2e rulebook includes a PDF reference booklet that includes images of all of the cards. Interestingly, the booklet depicts cards with the in-universe PanEuropean codenames* of the Mark III and Mark V, "Legionnaire" and "Huscarl" respectively, which, it seems, were never actually printed.

* ["Pikeman", included in Battlefields, being the in-universe PanEuropean codename for the Mark I.]

[J. Durr]

There's also the large scale classic counters, out of print but available as digital file I believe.

[HeatDeath]

Yep. Mentioned and linked to in the bottom two paragraphs of "Filling the Reinforcements Hole".

In light of the announcement on the BackerKit updates about the upcoming Ogre Print-and-Play product, they are about to become significantly more prominent, I suspect.